


Rage at Thunderclouds

by IndigoFudge



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Abusive Parents, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Coffee Shops, Coming Out, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak is a Mess, Everyone Is Alive, Fluff and Angst, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Gay Richie Tozier, Getting Together, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Minor Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Minor Bill Denbrough/Mike Hanlon, Oblivious Eddie Kaspbrak, Panic Attacks, Richie Tozier & Stanley Uris Are Best Friends, Richie Tozier Flirts, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Sexuality Crisis, Sonia Kaspbrak's A+ Parenting, Stanley Uris is a Good Friend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:35:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26733700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndigoFudge/pseuds/IndigoFudge
Summary: Richie Tozier is 17 and very gay, but so deeply in the closet that he barely recognizes that fact. He works at Hobby Lobby in order to try to get money for college. His best friends are Stanley Uris and Mike Hanlon. And you know what? Richie is depressed and needs therapy badly.Eddie Kaspbrak is also 17, also very gay, and also so deeply in the closet that he barely knows it. He doesn't work anywhere because his mother is too overprotective and doesn't think he's ready for a job yet. However, she drags him along to Hobby Lobby quite frequently so she can buy materials for her awful DIY projects.It is there one July afternoon where Richie Tozier and Eddie Kaspbrak cross paths for the very first time.__________________________Title is from the song "Eddie Baby" by Felix Hagan & the Family.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Mike Hanlon/Stanley Uris, Richie Tozier & Stanley Uris
Comments: 8
Kudos: 18





	Rage at Thunderclouds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW - mention of homophobia.

Richie Tozier first lays eyes on Eddie Kaspbrak on the sunny afternoon of July 21, 2018.

He'd been going through the motions all day, stuck in a boring job just trying to scrape together enough money to pay for college, but there is something about this boy coming through his checkout - something that makes Richie light up. 

The boy looks dead inside, to be honest. Dull eyes, closed-off posture, face pinched into a slight frown. He's hanging back a little from a larger woman who starts putting paint and wooden frames and styrofoam balls onto the conveyor belt. Richie scans the items as they come, but cannot pull his gaze away from the boy. _Is this his mom_ , he wonders, _and does she dress him? Because shit._ Even though the boy seems like he's around Richie's age, he is wearing a light purple polo shirt and short shorts, with socks that go halfway up his calves. Richie surreptitiously peeks over the counter to get a look at the boy's shoes and sees with a bit of disappointment that they are not Velcro.

"Your total is $37.59," he says, printing out the receipt. "Would you like a receipt?"

The woman glares at him disdainfully. "Yes," she says, and reaches out to snatch the receipt from his hands. "Eddie-bear, get the bags."

 _No manners. Well, that's common enough._ "Alright, ma'am, have a good day." Richie's mouth is dry; he watches the boy - Eddie? - duck his head and take the bags from the counter. Eddie is blushing furiously. 

"Hmm," hums the woman, staring daggers at Richie before turning on her heel and walking away. Eddie follows behind her like a lost puppy.

* * *

The second time Richie Tozier lays eyes on Eddie Kaspbrak is a little more than a week later.

He brightens up when he sees Eddie - who is wearing a bright yellow smiley face t-shirt and jean shorts - and the woman walk down the aisle that he's in. "Hello, are you finding everything alright today?" He puts on his fake smile, unable to look away from Eddie. 

The woman ignores him and yanks a box of poster paint off the shelf.

Richie tries again, this time addressing Eddie: "I like your shirt." (He doesn't, really, but for some reason he feels the need to make conversation with this boy.) "It suits you."

"You do?" Eddie asks, glancing down at the shirt and then back at Richie. His cheeks pinken. "Oh, uh, thank you." A tiny grin. 

_Victory!_ thinks Richie.

"Are you harassing my son?" The woman looks up now. Her face goes red and she grabs Eddie's wrist protectively.

 _So she_ is _his mom._ Richie imagines her puffing up like a threatened bird from the nature documentaries his dad used to make him watch whenever he stayed home sick from school. "No, ma'am, I was just trying to be nice." _She's really squeezing his arm there. Asshole._

"I don't appreciate you _flirting_ with my son. He is a _child_ ," she says haughtily.

Richie bristles, tips of his ears getting warm. "Ma'am, with all due respect, I was not flirting with your son. I am very straight." But if he's straight, then why does he get such a funny feeling in his chest whenever he sees an attractive boy? And why does he think boys are attractive in the first place?

The mother gives him a once-over. "Mhm." Her face is twisted in a scowl. "Come on, Eddie-bear." She leaves the aisle, but Eddie lingers.

"I'm sorry about her," he whispers. "She means well."

"Whatever you say." Richie notices Eddie gazing longingly at a set of watercolors. "Dude, take a picture, it'll last longer."

Eddie sighs. "No, I want to buy them, but she says they're toxic or some shit." He toes at a spot on the ground. "It's fine, I'll-"

"Steal them."

" _What?!"_ splutters Eddie, eyes bugging out of his head. "I- I'm not gonna- Do you _want_ me to go to _jail_?"

"You won't get caught, I can help you - I hate this place, man. Look, you can do it like this." Richie takes the watercolors and mimes shoving them under his shirt. 

"No. Absolutely not. I have a clean record, uh..." Eddie squints at Richie's nametag. " _Richie._ I have a clean record and I'm not going to let you fuck that up just because you're bored and are looking for impressionable young people to _steal_ for you."

Richie grins. "First of all, we look like we’re the same age. Second of all, it wouldn't be for me, it would be for you. Whatever, you don't have to steal them if you don't want to, I thought it might be fun." He puts the box back and leans against the shelf.

"Nope, nope, _nope._ " Eddie scoffs. "I don't want to be a criminal. Sorry, Richie. Maybe I'll see you around." 

He leaves the aisle.

* * *

That evening, Eddie sits in Ben Hanscom's basement and pouts. "Why are people so confusing?" he gripes, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes.

"What, did someone make fun of your outfit?" Bev Marsh is hanging upside down from the couch, a sly smile playing on her lips. 

"No, actually, the opposite!" Eddie frowns. "That weird kid at Hobby Lobby who was the cashier last time when my Ma and I checked out? I saw him again today. He told me he liked my shirt, so you'd _think_ he was a nice person, right? But nooooo - then he tried to encourage me to _shoplift!_ Can you believe that? Why would he be kind one minute, and then the next want me to go to _jail?_ Also, he was wearing this stupid Hawaiian shirt underneath his vest, it was totally unprofessional."

"How was it unprofessional if he had his vest on?" Ben barely looks up from his book.

"Because- _because._ He just had this _air_ around him, okay? You had to have been there. _Yuck._ He didn't even bother brushing his hair, it was all messy and it kept falling into his face! I hope he gets fired. That'll show him. Him and his _ugly glasses_ with _tape_ around the middle! Like, at least get them fixed! Come on!'

Bev raises an eyebrow. "Coming on a little strong there, bud."

That makes Eddie stop short. "What?"

"You seem to be a little obsessed with him," says Bev, letting out a small laugh. "I'm just saying! This is the second time you've mentioned him in a week."

"I am _not_ obsessed with him," Eddie seethes. "I don't even care about him. I barely notice him! He's stupid."

Ben and Bev trade a sidelong glance, and then Ben sets down his book. "What color were his eyes?"

 _Blue_ , Eddie thinks immediately. _Ridiculously magnified behind his coke-bottle glasses._ "I don't know," he says instead.

Ben's voice softens. "You know you can tell us anything, yeah?" He's somehow looking directly into Eddie's soul.

"Uhhh." Eddie focuses all his attention on his phone. "Yeah." _I was blushing so much after meeting Richie the first time that Ma thought I had a fever. That doesn't mean anything, though. He just made me flustered. I can get flustered without- without... without_ liking _someone._

_Right?_

* * *

Meanwhile, across town, Richie is having a similar - yet completely different - conversation with his friends.

"Mike?" he asks, draped dramatically across a beanbag. "I got a question."

"Yeah, shoot." Mike Hanlon is sitting cross-legged on the floor, helping Stan Uris put together a jigsaw puzzle. (Richie never does these puzzles, his hands are too shaky.)

"How did you know you were gay?"

Mike sets down the puzzle piece he was holding, thinking for a couple seconds. "Well, I saw a boy, thought he was cute, and realized that if he were to kiss me right then I wouldn't be upset." 

Richie imagines Eddie kissing him. His heartbeat speeds up. "Oh," he says. " _Shit._ If I get a weird fluttery feeling in my stomach whenever I see this one boy, that, uh- that probably means something too, huh?"

"Richie," Stan says softly. "We'll support you no matter what."

"Yeah, it would be pretty hypocritical of me if I judged _you_ for being gay when I literally have a boyfriend." Mike laughs, returning to the puzzle before him.

 _That's it? No making a big deal out of it? No trying to pry it out of me?_ The nausea in Richie's stomach settles. After several minutes, he loudly groans. " _Fine!_ I think I'm gay." He makes a face. "Now I'll have to say 'I fucked your dad' instead of 'I fucked your mom.' Ugh. Character development is the worst."

Stan nudges Richie with his foot. "Good. Will you finally quit working for those homophobic assholes now? That coffee shop downtown - I've Bean Waiting, which is a truly terrible pun - is hiring." 

"Mm, coffee," says Richie sarcastically. "Satan's hot chocolate." 

"That's not all they serve, dipshit," Stan says. "They've got donuts too. You have, like, twenty sweet teeth." He points at the cluster of candy wrappers surrounding Richie's claimed beanbag.

Richie considers this, and then huffs. "Alright. I guess. Thanks, guys."

"Oh no, thank _you._ Maybe I can get some free donuts now!" says Mike. 

"Uh-huh." Richie feels warm. Sitting with his feet propped up on a stack of pillows, arm thrown over his face, listening to Mother Mother playing from Stan's phone, he wishes this moment could go on forever.

The real world doesn't work like that.


End file.
